


Up In Flames

by RaenUE



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Canonical Character Death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 19:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaenUE/pseuds/RaenUE
Summary: Rinea has met a terrible fate, yet she can't bring herself to hate the man that caused this.An exploration of what was going on inside the mind of Rinea during her final moments, with a thematic tie-in to my previous fic 'Odd One Out'.





	Up In Flames

It hurt.

The pain of betrayal, the pain of heartbreak, it hurt like nothing else.

Rinea’s soul was aflame, and it hurt so much.

Her entire body burned as if she was afflicted by a fever, as if her flesh itself was on fire.

The pain wouldn’t stop.

Rinea couldn’t feel much beyond the pain.

Brief snippets of action flashed before her.

There was fighting. The clash of steel upon steel. She could barely make out anything though the pain.

Rinea sensed her body move.

She seemed to be floating.

Her arm raised, burning just a bit more than the rest of her body for the briefest of moments.

A scream erupted from the other end of the catacomb.

Had she… done something?

She tried to look in the direction it had come in, to will her head to rotate, to force her eyes open, but it seemed her body was no longer her own.

The scene in front of her once again flashed before her eyes and she clung to it as a reminder that something lie beyond her suffering, as a reminder that she existed beyond just the unending pain.

There stood that young boy, the one who had traveled from the bottom of Zofia to learn he was the prince of Rigel.

His name was Alm, was it not?

And in front of Alm.

In front of Alm, clashing blades with a frenzied smile across his face, stood Berkut.

Berkut.

Berkut, Berkut, Berkut.

It’s his fault. This pain is all his fault. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much and it’s all his fault. Berkut’s reason she was like that, the reason why she was suffering. Berkut-

“No!”

Rinea shouted, she denied those thoughts with all her might.

Berkut was not an unkind man.

He was a troubled man, but he was not unkind.

The world had been unkind to Berkut, and he could only take so much before it became too much for him to bear.

Berkut had been promised, he was entrusted the throne by Rudolf, only to discover that Rudolf had a son all this time and had concealed the fact that he had always intended to pass the throne to Alm.

As a member of one of the lesser houses, Rinea was often denied the privilege of speaking to those of higher stature, so she passed the time at the various balls she was invited to observing them. There was much you could learn from someone simply by watching their behavior, but it didn’t take much to notice that Rudolf truly loved Berkut.

And yet…

Following Zofia Castle’s recapture by the Deliverance, Rinea had been rushed back to Rigel Castle as the front lines were far too dangerous for her. She had arrived shortly after the messenger that told of Berkut’s defeat, and without meaning to ended up catching the tail end of his conversation with Rudolf.

When told the name of the boy leading Zofia’s charge, Rudolf smiled. It was a small, warm smile, not quite a grin, but nonetheless conveyed that he was pleased by something.

If she had to had to choose a moment where she started to have doubts that things would remain as they were for her and Berkut, it would have been then.

Rudolf was firm -but not harsh-, yet in the few years she had known him, she had never known him to be a man who smiled. And yet what would cause him to be pleased by the heir apparent being defeated in combat?

As she- as they all knew now, it was because it meant the gears behind whatever plan Rudolf had put in place years ago had begun to turn.

Rinea couldn’t understand what had driven Emperor Rudolf to abandon his son. Such a decision must have been a hard one to make, and while she wasn’t privy to the ins and outs of being King of Rigel, she could guess that the reasons why Alm had to be hidden away were likely political in nature.

The pain burned, searing her flesh and thoughts away. Rinea clung to the few thoughts she could get a hold of, trying desperately to maintain her own sense of humanity.

Rudolf surely hadn’t meant to deceive Berkut.

And yet Berkut had been betrayed. Beaten down by Alm, by the Duma Faithful, by his own failures, he clung to the belief that he’d become Emperor someday.

And even that was taken away from him.

It was no surprise that he went mad with anger.

It only took a second, but a second of weakness was all Duma needed to worm his way into Berkut’s mind and take all he had remaining as the price of power.

At least her soul being taken meant Berkut, in all his rage, had still loved her, Rinea lamented.

At first glance that might seem to be something unforgivable.

After all, Berkut had all but killed her himself.

But Rinea couldn’t help but see that Berkut was in just as much pain as she was in.

After all, just like her, Berkut had been hurting all his life.

Rinea hadn’t just been from some lesser house; the house she was from was what other nobles referred to as an interloping house. All the noble families could be traced back for generations, but Rinea’s had apparently come out of nowhere two generations prior. They must have existed for longer, because they had a centuries-old estate, but no records showed how long they had been there and, in fact, how they had gotten there in the first place.

When Berkut had approached her, Rinea kept her composure, but inside she was elated. All her life she was the target of the pointed tongues and harsh words of the other nobles.

“Why is she here?”

“Ugh, who invited her?”

And here was someone -no, not just someone- the heir apparent to the throne, going out of his way to spend time with her. Her gut instinct was that this was just some sort of joke, that later on he would reveal that it was all a ploy to get her to lower her guard and he and all the other nobles would get a good laugh out of it, but who was she to deny him, the man who was second only to the Emperor himself?

But that day never came. Berkut genuinely enjoyed spending his time with her, and as the years went on, it became apparent that he also wanted to spend his life with her. They were a source of happiness for each other, and Rinea couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with anyone else.

Rinea had come to learn, in her time at the castle, that Berkut had been subject to the same gossip as she had. Some long-lost sister of Rudolf’s had appeared at the castle two decades ago, moments from succumbing to some illness, begging Rudolf to raise her infant in their stead. Rudolf agreed without incident, but the funeral he held for his sister was far from quiet.

“Did the Emperor have a sibling all this time? I could have sworn he didn’t…”

“And they passed their child off to him? Were they trying to weasel their way into giving their offspring a better life?”

“I don’t know what the Emperor is thinking… first he has no children and stays unmarried, and now he adopts a total stranger… is he trying to ruin the pedigree of the Rigelian royal family?”

The words of the servants in the castle and of the nobles invited there surely weighed upon Berkut. Being raised as if you were the Emperor’s son, yet hearing whispers that you were undeserving, that you were some interloper who was better off being literally anywhere else even if it meant the centuries-old royal family would meet its end.

Massena, one of the few people at the castle who was unwaveringly loyal to the late Emperor and trusted his judgement unconditionally, had told Rinea that Berkut was miserable as a child, confirming her suspicions. He went on to tell her that, once Rudolf had officially announced that Berkut would be his successor, on the eve of Berkut’s 13th birthday, Berkut’s demeanor had changed drastically.

It wasn’t to the harsh, angry, vengeful Berkut that he had been for the past few months, but to one where he was relaxed, freed of the barrage of insults that had been constantly flung at him the moment Rudolf was out of earshot.

After all, even if he had no intention of doing so, the people who had spoken ill of him knew that he would one day have the power to see to their punishment. Who would run the risk of angering the man who was to become Emperor?

When he had approached Rinea at that party, so long ago, Rinea felt that she too could exact revenge against those who had wronged her.

It was quickly followed by a twinge of guilt. Even if she had endured years of their brutal, unrelenting jeers and taunts, she was far more fortunate than they ever would be. She, one day, would be Empress, and Berkut would be Emperor. There was no reason to bear them ill will, as even if they had done their best to harm her, they would never have what she would have with Berkut.

Together, they stood against the words of their past, the claims that they were nothing. They broke free from the gossip that sought to end them, and became something more than what anyone ever thought they could be.

And now, due to the machinations of Rudolf, they’d fallen down to second best in Rigel.

Not to rock bottom, but they were nonetheless no longer destined to rule Rigel.

For the past decade or so, Berkut had used the knowledge that he would be Emperor to endure though the few hardships they faced. When defeated by Alm, he was distraught, filled with doubt once again. Was he really worthy of becoming Emperor?

He hardened his resolve by reminding himself that people would have no choice but to accept him, that he would be Emperor regardless of what the masses wanted.

And then, after everything that had happened, that shield Berkut had always used was ripped from his grasp.

Alm would surely be a fair ruler; his conquest of Rigel was entirely in self defense, and it had started as a small quest to quell a military coup.

Berkut, in a panic because he was no longer able to cling to idea that things would improve, failed to see that things would surely get better.

Rinea tried to tell him, to let him know that even if things got worse, she’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

And in his madness, he rejected his own love for her, and threw aside his humanity.

Duma took Rinea’s as collateral for his supposed blessing.

Whatever remained of the Berkut she had fallen in love with fell apart upon seeing her current form.

The Berkut here, the Berkut that was fighting with Alm, the boy who took away the throne Berkut felt was rightfully his...

This Berkut was surely not truly Berkut.

His screams brought Rinea back to reality.

Rinea’s body, burning as brightly as ever, turned towards Berkut just in time to see Alm land a fatal blow.

Berkut’s body fell to the ground, slowly bleeding out as his screams turned from rage to pain.

Alm turned towards her, and she could see all too well that he too was in pain.

“I’m sorry.”

Alm cried, tears streaming down his face as he made his way towards Rinea.

“I’m sorry things had to end like this.”

Alm drew ever closer, sword in hand.

“I wish we could have all lived together. You, Berkut,” Alms sobs grew louder, “Father, and Celica.”

The emotional strain of committing not just regicide, but patricide weighed heavy on the young man.

He raised his sword-

“I wish this could have ended any other way.”

-and brought it down, piercing Rinea’s chest.

The pain stopped.

After all, what use is feeling pain when you’re effectively dead?

Whatever force was controlling her weakened as her body began to crumble to ash.

Tears streamed down her face, evaporating into steam as they were heated by the charred remains of her flesh.

‘We never did get to say our wedding vows, did we, Berkut?’

And finally, Rinea was released from the grip of madness, her soul free to move on.

 

Once again, she looked towards Berkut, bleeding out on the ground.

He was in pain.

He was hurting.

And, most of all, his cries were filled with regret.

Regret that he had sacrificed everything in the name of power.

Not regret that the power he was granted hadn’t been enough.

But regret that he had fallen so low as to do such a thing.

Rinea began to float towards him.

She didn’t know if her words could reach him, but perhaps, if just for a moment, she could do something to bring comfort to the dying prince.

His moment of weakness, while only for a moment, was enough to end both of them.

Rinea was dead, and Berkut was soon to follow.

In the end, they were never really in control of their fates.

In the end, the world itself had betrayed them.

And yet, in the end…

At least they could head off into the great unknown together.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to make sense of why Rinea would have taken it upon herself to forgive Berkut (because I sure as hell wouldn’t have). Rinea did strike me as quicker to forgive than most, but instead of just making it ‘unconditional love uwu’ I thought that Rinea understanding why he made that one, fatal mistake would make her forgiveness of Berkut a bit less out of the blue, while also making her character a bit less flat.  
> This also ties into some themes I used in a previous work (Odd One Out), but I tried to make it more… subtle, I guess. The driving question in it was ‘What if the characters in Echoes were, on some subconscious level, aware of the events of Gaiden?’, which I’ve reused to some degree here as a question secondary to ‘why would Rinea ever in a million years forgive Berkut?’. You could say they're both part of the same AU, I guess.  
> As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.


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